In fact most will hear & see the phrase above many times in their life, with very little effect, and won’t let it guide their logo design.

Why?

Why are so many peeps designing symbols meant to represent a huge project or their life’s work, but they design it with no knowledge or background in symbolism, sacred geometry, and visual languages?

Why’re entrepreneurs pulling logos out of their ass & hiring vaguely competent designers, instead of investing in someone who gets Universal Principles like meaning and identity, and applies them to logo design.

Is it ’cause those designers are rare? Is it ’cause entrepreneurs don’t know any better? Is it something else?

Well, either way, I’m here to say:

Make your logo an iconic pillar of your legacy.

This won’t be an "actionable tips" post, but I’ll share with you the story of Ryze’s logo birth and evolution.

Ready? Here we go.

When I was younger, I made really sexy logos, with ease.

My friends all wanted me to design ’em tattoos.

They swarmed me with yearbooks begging for full-page artwork.

I was hyper-creative, and the logos I drew were simple, memorable, clear, reproducible, etc.

And while I crashed there — sleeping on his floor, by the way — I designed him a logo for his mobile app, and we had an incredible chat about world class, legendary brands.

And he pointed out some key things that I’d missed while designing Ryze’s logo.

He convinced me to take a breath, stop working on the Ryze logo directly, and spend a week or a month simply working on a wordmark. (ie: the official font included in the brand name)

Start there ’cause we’re all familiar with letters, and letters can be powerful symbols, if you use ’em right.

"Facebok, Google, Microsoft — their logos are just their names. Why can’t you do that for Ryze? Take some time and get it right. We’ll talk about colors after." – Joy Lushington.

His reasoning felt strong, and he and I have had some of the wisest, deepest, most amazing chats in the whole wide world. He’s been there with me and for me through thick and thin, literally a guardian angel at times — and it was easy to act on what he said.

(Side Note: If you can attract a friend like Joy into your life, do it. A single person like that can turn your life around, often when they’re not even trying.)

First I focused on the name, and what Ryze stands for!

When I actually turned my creativity and focus to the name ‘Ryze’, and it’s meaning – things went faster than I thought.

In a week I’d burned through a bunch of fonts that didn’t work, and was satisfied by modifying Futura Medium.

I played with upper-case and lower-case, kerning, spacing, leading and more. I aimed for uniqueness & memorability, but more importantly, I aimed to have each letter have meaning.

But… this post is about logos – the design of the Ryze font-face is a story for another time; the point is, I reached a new understanding of empires & icons and their ‘image decisions’, and I started noticing patterns.

So next I let it breathe, took a break, and allowed inspiration in.

Then some research led me to sacred geometry, heiroglyphics, and symbolism.

And this is the power of logos. Meaning. The beautiful ability to hint at a story through an icon.

Even though language gets confusing, and even though people who speak the same language can mean totally different things… a symbol – like an arrow – means basically the same thing to anyone viewing it.

A horizontal line means the Earth/horizon, grounded, feminine.

A vertical line means the Sky, above, masculine.

People get this on a core level.

The curvy Ryze arrow logo all started with a cross, but you can’t tell, lol.

The cross is the perfect blend of these two things, and the cross is a symbol that has impact to everyone, everywhere. It touches people on a primal level.

And yes, it’s also the main symbol of Christianity, which I was raised on — a religion which I summarize as:

Love your god; love your neighbor as you love yourself.

That’s a message I’ve always felt powerfully in me, and I aim for it in all I do.

And I feel there’s more helpful, uplifting, eye-opening, game-changing wisdom on Ryze than anywhere else on the net. I love myself, I’m confident about it, and I love everybody else.

We’re all Ryzing Stars.

Anyway, I`m rambling — what I’m saying is, I felt a cross-based symbol would be a super-powerful, meaningful, legendary icon for Ryze.

So that was my first design, and I loved it, and was glad I experimented with it…

But Ryze must be sexy, poppy, & appealing, so a cross by itself wouldn’t really work.

Way too heavy-handed and stigmatized, but it was a start.

(By the way, as this story flows, are you getting how much love, time, wisdom, history, symbolism, and energy goes into a game-changing logo?)

I felt more was needed. I amped the logo up. I sex-ified the cross. I Ryze-ified it and applied some more symbolism, this time using the directional, ryzing power of the up-arrow, and the poetic visual appeal of a soft curve 🙂

Once I’d made that, I was on a roll, feeling extra inspired.

I felt compelled to play around, go the extra mile, and try some other ideas.

I love that logo, because it implies that while you have direction, you’re still easy & able to roll with the punches. Also, it shows that instead of moving forward blindly, or punching your way through walls, you choose to move around obstacles, likes a flowing river. You’re easy-going & loose.

Besides, curves are sexier than straight lines, lolz!

-Andi-Roo

I couldn’t agree more, you beautiful stars, you.

Now, the sentiment could be because:

Human beings appreciate curves on a core level.

Or ’cause much of my list are hot chicks looking to feel more power and beauty in their lives.

Or ’cause of how I laid out the designs, putting the wave design in the center.

But I don’t care about these subtle details, ’cause the time, space, and putting it out to the Ryze community gave me the perspective I needed.

When I saw your feedback on the Ryze Logo Survey, I checked in with myself, and I agreed – the middle, wave-based, curvy logo still held the most appeal to me, too.

And it felt more right than ever, but I noticed it was Ryzing the ‘wrong way.’

It needed forward motion.

(again — are you getting the excessive tweaks & meanings involved in creating a powerful logo? 😛 – This is WHY I charge what I charge for my empire branding, design, and consulting work. When you practice this stuff and get good at it, you can create power logos & brands very quickly — but it’s a rare skill.)

The ryze wavearrow was leaning to the left, which represents backwards’ (at least to Westerners :D), so I flipped it horizontally as the final change before release.

I also made the curve slighter, and made sure it didn’t back over itself, but at least moved sideways — because life never really goes backwards.

And yes, it may evolve, but hopefully I nailed it out the gate – and it remains pure like this for centuries, either way, I’m open.

But I do know that it’s the most powerful logo I’ve ever made, and I’ve made MANY.

And if it’s anything like the Ryze Wordmark — people are gonna want it everywhere 🙂

“Some wonder what’s so difficult about creating a good logo. They’re small, they look easy to do, so no problem, right? When you only see the result of a designer’s efforts, the logo creation can look like it was a simple task. But it’s not. A logo takes thought and creativity, and many elements combine to make a good one.” – Harrison McLeod

So…

The wrap-up…

I’m not 100% satisfied with this log, but it’s evolving. A big part of what’s missing is *scalability* – the thin arrow doesn’t resize well, which is vital if you’re going to have fans of your logo put it on big banners, tiny buttons, or tattooed on their bodies.

I’ll likely have to come back here and update this as the evolution continues.

Still, to create a logo, I could’ve easily followed the same process as 90%+ of the population, even the ‘great’ designers people hire.

I could’ve used a stock photo. I could’ve created an ok-looking logo, just ’cause I’m artistic. I could’ve made it extra-complicated. I could’ve given it shallow meaning… but I didn’t do those things.

And you I suggest you don’t either.

Note: I only design logos for empire creators who ‘get it’, and it’s a rare, inspired magical bonus I volunteer if I feel deeply appreciated by a client, and I feel it’ll truly be used well.

Your Turn: What do you think? Did you learn anything about the true power of logo, design, and identity from my story? Has reading this changed how you see your own logo, or the logos of others?

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21 Comments

Man, you make me feel that I have a shit logo (Actually, I do, well I am happy with what it is now, but I would have to change it, because I am planning to change my domain :D).

Maybe I could use those curvy lines?

Or may be the cross?

Who knows?

I like simplicity the best (but, my site isn’t that simplistic now, especially with logos and other things). I am still planning to on the launch of the new site (and this post just gives me some wild ideas :D).

People these days focus too much on “Stylishness” of the logo (of course, everything matters, but beyond all that, there should be a meaning to a logo, like yours :D). All small things have their own power, but meaning is something really big, really emotional (and can build that relationship really fast, can’t they?).

I believe so.

It opens up a window for building relationships.

Oh, yes. It’s all about those emotions now. How they connect to emotions;)

I have spent some money on logo designing and designing other stuff (I am not going to repeat that again. Why should I spend money when I can do it myself? I realized that when I designed my FB Page cover. Sure, it took some time to make everything. But, in the end, I was happy with it. It was simplistic and according to all my ideas :D. After all, who knows us and our ideals better than ourselves?).

Dude, you know what – You’re honest! That’s the best thing about you. When you said ‘fucking powerful’, I dived right into it and this story is awesome. I’ve heard all that logo tips crap but your story is really cool. Yeah, it should reflect who exactly I am or my blog is. Your logo is awesome and yeah the arrow story was awesome, ‘it needed some forward motion’ LOL.

I’m gonna work on my logo now and I hope you’ll check it out soon coz the I one I’m having right now SUCKS!

I admire how much thought you put into this. I think too many people these days are rushing into putting something out there. I like seeing people take their time and put meaning into their work.

Anyways, I love what you ended up with. I’m actually launching a new blog (still keeping the current one as well) and I’ve been thinking about if I need a logo at all or what. Logos aren’t something I understand very well.

Powerful story. Great new logo design. Logos and brands represent identity. Putting the time and energy into making it something great speaks volumes about the person and/or company behind it. Thanks for sharing the process behind it, J!

But I have a different point of view on logo creation. If companies like Google / Facebook have a very simple and straightforward approach towards logos & branding then why a small business owner who ‘s often wearing so many hats already why spend that much time on deciding just a logo?

I’m curious, are you telling me you know the real, true details about the birth of the logos of Facebook and Google? Are you aware of any failed projects & logos they had that led them to their brand? Will you share those stories or send a link?